The Senate has passed the 2025 budget with a total figure of N54, 990, 165, 355, 306 trillion.
This followed the adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Appropriation on the 2025 Appropriation Bill during plenary yesterday.
The budget report was initially not included in the business of the day published in the Order Paper but was later included in a supplementary paper. The Chairman of the Committee, Adeola Olamilekan (Ogun West) had earlier laid the report before the Senate.
In December 2024, President Bola Tinubu presented a N49.7 trillion budget proposal at a joint sitting of the National Assembly. But, last week, he notified the lawmakers of an additional N4.5 trillion to the budget figure, raising it to N54.9 trillion.
Out of the figure, N3, 645, 761, 358, 925 trillion is for statutory transfers; N14, 317, 142, 689, 548 trillion is for debt servicing; N13, 064, 009, 682, 673 trillion is for recurrent non-debt expenditure, while N23, 963, 251, 624, 250 trillion is for capital expenditure.
Earlier, Sen. Adeola urged the president to ensure that the budget is presented to the Parliament at least three months to the end of the current fiscal year to enable the country return to a January to December budget cycle.
The Senate, in the Committee of the Whole, considered the recommendations of the report. It was, thereafter, adopted in plenary and read for a third time, signalling its passage by the Senate.
In his remarks after the passage of the bill, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who presided over the session, commended the Finance Committee Chairman, the standing committees chairmen and all members present for their contributions to its passage. He also expressed hope that the budget would be used to move Nigeria forward
The Sun
